Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-06-29


ed that subject can find by scent Il
fragments of card, previously given
him to feel, and torn up and hidden. tt
g memory of somnsmbulism is similar
exalted. When awakened the subie
does not, as rule, remember anythir
that occurred when he was entrance
but, when again hypnotized, his memol
Includes all the facts of his sleep, his Ii
e when awake aud his former sleep
s Rchet attests how somnambules recs
/ with luxury OF detail scenes in whic
4 they have taken part and places the
have visited long ago. M, one {
his somnambuIes, sings the air Of ii
> second act of the opera L'Africaine whe
D she is asleep, but c"nnot remember
, note Of it when awake.
1 There is a theory that no experienC
/ whatever of person is lost to the mem
: ory; it is only the power to recall it tha
] is defective. The authors of this work SO
/ that while the exaItation Of the memor
} during somnsm bulism does not give ab
solute proof to the theory that nothing
lost, il proves at any rate that the men
| DRY of preservation is much greater tina
is generally imagined, in comparison wit
the memory of reproduction or recolleC
. / tAOA' II 10 CflNtNAIy my Guy LlluA II
q great number of cases, where we believ
the memory is completely bl0tted out
it is nothing OF the kind. The trace j
always there, but what is lacking Is tht
power to evoke Il; and il is highly prob.
able that if we were subjected to hyp-
notism, or the action of suitable eycitants
memories to all appearances dead. might
be revived"
A ln+ n ,.h
of awakening from natural and artificial
sleep is instituted. Ia the case Of dream
ing, recollection more or less vivid per-
sIsts for few seconds, then becomes ef-
| faced This forgetfulness is even more
marked in the case of hypnosis. On re-
turning to natural consciousness the sub
| lect cannot rec0mpose single one of the
scenes in which he has played his part as
witness or actor. The loss, however, Is
not complete, for often word or two is
sufficient to bring back g whole scene,
though this word Or two, coming from
operator TO subject, partakes more or less
OF the nature OF a suggestion.
SUGGESTION.
Suggestion" by which is meant the
production of thoughts and actions on the
part of the subject through some indca-
GlOu vi UlAL given ny luC ODGl is
found 10 be analogous to dreaming Say
the authors: "All suggestion consists
essentially in acting on person by en-
idea, every effect suggested is the re-
sultant of phenomenon of ideation; but
we must add that the idea is but an
outward sign; taken alone it is only in
dicative of some physiological process,
which Is alone capable of producing
orsa
susceptibility to suggestion. "For sug-
gesliOn TO succeed the subject must Eeve
naturally fallen, or been artifcally
thrown into the state of morbid re-
captivity; but it is difficult to deter
mine accurately the conditions of sugges-
tiOnabiltty. However, we msy mention
two. The first is the mental inertia OF
the subject; the consciousness
is completely empty;5an idea is suggest
ed, and reignS supreme over the slumber-
ing consciousness. The second
is psychic hypereXcitablIity, the cause of
the aptitude for suggestion" From the
standpoint OF psychology the explanation
of the effects of suggestion is to be found
in the association of ideas. "Suggestion
in its positive aspect is nothing else than
the throwing into action of q mental as
sociation pre-eXisting in the spirit
of the hypnotic. For example, we
say to patient: Look, you have 8 |
bird in your apron aud no sooner are
these simple words pronounced than she |
sees the bird, feels it with her fingers, and !
sometimes even hears it sing" Ali these |
ideas are associated in the mind by habit, |
and consequently they are called into
action. "Again, in place of speech we
engage the attention of the patient, and |
when her gaze has become settled and |
obedientlY follows all our movements, we
initiate with the hand the motion of an |
object which dies. Soon the patient |
cries: 'Ob, what pretty bird!' How
has simple gesture produced so Singh
lar an effect? Again by the association |
of ideas. But this case differs from the
in being only an association Of
1t is admitted, however, that the hy-
pothesis OF the association of ideas only |
partly covers the facts Of suggestion, even !
when stretched to include resemblanCes.
For instance: "When we charge the brain
Of an entranced patient with some strange
dea, such as, 'On awakening you Will
rob Mr.. So-and-so of his handkerchief
and on awakening the patient accom-
Dlishes the THEFT commanded, there is
nothing more than an image associated
with an act. In point of fact, the patient
has appropriated and assimilated the idea
Ot the eXperimenter. She does not pss-
;ively execute g strange order, but the
order has passed in her consciousness
rom passive to active. We can 90 as
ar as to say that the patient has the will
% steal. This state is complex and o.
'cure; hitherto no one has explained it'll
If suggestions impelling to.aS,
ion Offer enigma, how much more dosgg-
gestionS that inhabit? > The tactst
IF paralysis by suggestion completely up II
set classical psychology. The ezpafi-
nenter who produces them so eaefir,j
Knows neither what he produces or bow
lie does it. Take the example of s sys-
ematic ara sthesia paralysis of sensa-
ion). We say to the subject: "On
weakening you will not see Mr.. Y, who is
here before us; be will have completely
disappeared" No sooner said than
lone; the patient on awakening sees
everyone around her except Mr.. y; when
lie speaks she does not answer his ques-
ions; Il ne places his hand on her shoul-
Ter, she does not feel the contact, if he (
,ets in her way she walks straight on,
nd Is terrified at being stopped by an
INVISIBLE obstacle. Here the
avs of association, which do such good ]
erYice in solving psychological problems,
bandon US completely. Apparently ]
hey do not account for all the facts Of {
Consciousness. !
PORTRAITS BY HALLUCINATIoN. {
remarkable and suggestive series OF
experiments performed with portraits by